Young Monk Now Free to Travel in India
NEW DELHI — A teenage monk who escaped Chinese-controlled Tibet last year has been granted refugee status in India, giving him more freedom to travel in the country, the Dalai Lama’s exile government said Saturday.
The 17th Karmapa--one of the most senior monks, or lamas, in Tibetan Buddhism and head of the Karma Kagyu sect--eluded the Chinese guards at his monastery in Tibet and trekked over the Himalayas to India.
His movements were restricted after his arrival. India’s decision, made Thursday, gives the 15-year-old permission to travel within the country, a security ministry official said.
The Karmapa was happy when he learned about the decision and wants to visit Bodhgaya, where Buddhists believe the founder of their religion achieved enlightenment, and the Hindu holy town of Varanasi on the Ganges River, the security ministry official said.
The Karmapa said he came to the mountain town of Dharmsala because he wanted to study with his tutors, who had not been allowed to visit him in China.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed 1959 revolt against Chinese rule, was followed to northern India by more than 120,000 refugees who settled with him in Dharmsala.
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